There are a number of different types of industrial and hobbyist soldering stations presently available. In this field, temperature control of the soldering tip is a critical function impacting the quality of the solder joint. Many types of solder materials are available that have different melt temperatures and physical properties to match to particular applications. Soldering also utilizes a number of different types of chemical formulations that aid the soldering process, including fluxes and cleaning agents. Due to the high temperatures, corrosive materials and different metals, the process of soldering is inherently destructive to the solder tip located at the most distal end of a solder cartridge attached to a solder station. Thus, a number of solder stations and solder handles have been offered with removable solder cartridges that can be swapped out to provide different shapes for specific types of solder tasks, as well as to ease replacement.
For many applications, the size of the solder tip allows constructions having a heater element and temperature sensor located internally to the solder tip. The temperature sensor provides a feedback of the temperature of the tip to a solder station that can adjust the power delivery to the heater element to maintain a desired temperature level. One structure for providing a temperature sensor at the solder tip is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,679,032, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, herein incorporated by reference.
However, for some types of detail or fine solder work, the size of the tip is constrained and as a result the structural constraints do not allow the placement of a temperature sensor at the solder tip. For these types of requirements, temperature control of the solder tip may be provided by taking advantage of the Currie point of ferromagnetic materials to provide self-regulating temperature control using an inductive current heating method. Configurations of different inductive current self-regulating soldering tips, and the underlying principle of operation, are disclosed in expired U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,256,945 and 4,745,264.